Valero exploring use of rail to move Canadian crude oil to US Gulf refineries

Valero already has expanded greatly how much oil from Texas and North Dakota its Gulf Coast refineries use. The San Antonio, Texas, company, the world's largest independent refiner, now is looking into using rail cars to bring Western Canadian oil to the Gulf Coast, home to about two-thirds of its refining capacity.

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By BEN LEFEBVRE

Valero Energy will spend nearly $1 billion in 2013 to increase
the amount of North American crude it can bring to its
refineries and how much fuel it can export overseas, company
executives said Tuesday.

Valero and other North American refineries have benefited
from the dramatic increase in domestic oil production brought
about by recent advances in drilling technology and methods.

Domestically produced oil is cheaper than imported crude and
gives US refineries a competitive edge when selling their
gasoline and diesel to Latin America and Europe.

Refiners still are waiting for new pipelines to be built to
connect increasingly productive oil fields to their refineries
and leaving them to use rail cars and barges to move the oil.
The demand for rail cars and barges is so strong that it can
take one year to acquire a new one.

Valero already has expanded greatly how much oil from Texas
and North Dakota its Gulf Coast refineries use. The San
Antonio, Texas, company, the world's largest independent
refiner, now is looking into using rail cars to bring Western
Canadian oil to the Gulf Coast, home to about two-thirds of its
refining capacity.

Valero also is planning to invest in dock improvements to
help boost how much gasoline and diesel it ships. Valero hopes
to bring its diesel export capacity to 425,000 bpd from its
present 280,000 bpd, Mr. Gorder said.

The logistics projects should be finished by the
end of the year, Mr. Gorder said.

Dow Jones Newswires

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